“Honey, I’m Home, Married, and Employed!” Workplace Protection Under Title VII
First, let’s review Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:
“Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion.”
On April 4th, 2017, the Seventh Circuit ruled in Kimberly Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was unconstitutional. The Seventh Circuit, to date, is the highest court in the United States to hold that sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination under Title VII.
Second, let’s review the Case and the Claims:
The claim in question now is if the interpretation of sex includes sexual orientation. This case originated from a claim that Kimberly Hively, who was a part-time adjunct professor at Ivy Tech Community College, made alleging she was repeatedly denied consideration for full-time teaching positions due to her sexual orientation.
In this statutory interpretation case, Judge Wood pinpointed the issue of the type of rights given to the LGBT+ community, explaining how the United States is “a paradoxical legal landscape in which a person can be married on Saturday and then fired on Monday for just that act.”
Justice Wood stated that discrimination based on a person’s failure to conform to a certain set of gender stereotypes constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII. In parallel with the same logic, Wood noted that sexual orientation is based on sex and if Hively had been a man dating a woman, she would not experience workplace discrimination.
Lastly, let’s talk about why this is so important:
This highlights the important role the Court plays to revisit and engage in the interpretation of prior precedents. The decision the Court must make is a pure question of how the Act is interpreted, which is fully within the Court’s power. The significance of this also includes how LGBT rights can be upheld without Congressional approval or amendments. Lastly, this case can now hold precedent for future cases dealing with other aspects of the LGBT community’s life, as well as expanding these rights to the trans community.
References:
Kimberly Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. United States District Court
for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division. 4 Apr. 2017. Politico. Politico LLC, 4 Apr. 2017. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.
